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| Reviews Summary for dbx 286A Microphone Processor |
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Reviews: 1
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Average rating: 2.0/5
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MSRP: $199
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Description: Rack-mount microphone processor normally used in pro audio, live recording, and soundstage applications.
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More info: http://www.dbxpro.com/286A/286A.php
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You can
write your own review of the dbx 286A Microphone Processor.
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W6DTW
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 8, 2008 03:29
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Send this review to a friend
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Doesn't do the job
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently picked up a used dbx 286A processor from Guitar Center for about $95. I had been looking for a piece of equipment to replace my existing voice processor; Voice Shaper (a software-based voice processor) running on a Dell D410 laptop. I'm sad to say that $120 later (for the processor and cables) the 286A doesn't even come close. Here's the story:
Conditions were bad during the test; a huge clump of thunderstorms north of Iowa--and the resultant static crashes--were really hitting wiping out 80M hard all night. In a way this was good, because I knew the processors simply *had* to work. I started off trying to make contacts with the dbx 286A, but nobody was coming back to me. I swapped in Voice Shaper on the laptop and made a contact right away; San Diego came back as did Vancouver BC and Colorado. I asked them to work with me on an A/B compare, then swapped back to the dbx. Nobody could hear me. Back to Voice Shaper, and once again I was given decent reports.
Per my peak-reading wattmeter the rig was making the same amount of power in both cases; about 200 watts. Since power in single-sideband is directly related to audio level, we have to conclude that the audio levels out of the dbx 286A *must* have been set correctly. What was the different between the two processors? Same mic, same audio output levels to the radio, same output power per readings on the wattmeter.
The only difference I could see was in the spectral distribution of the transmit audio energy. Voice Shaper has a graphic equalizer which allows me to constrain audio in the "speech intelligibility" range of 300 Hz - 3.3 KHz, and it also allows me to augment certain frequencies (such as the 1 - 3 KHz range) which carry the majority of speech information. The dbx 286A has a two-band "audio enhancer" but it's not frequency-specific, and in fact the manual states that the "high-frequency" enhancer is frequency-adaptive. Therefore I have to conclude that the dbx 286A is too wideband; it's putting out audio frequencies which don't contribute to speech intelligibility and on-the-air performance.
Looks like for now my software processor is here to stay.
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